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How Burdened is Your Body?
By Ryan N. Harrison, MA, HHP, NC, EFT-ADV
“Detoxification” has become a nice buzz word lately. It sounds good, rolls off the tongue easily. And, depending on where you live and your lifestyle, if you happen to mention it to your friends or coworkers, it’s likely to make you seem “in the know” about natural healing and health. But do you know what detoxification really is and why is it so important?
The human body is an amazing thing. In its healthiest state it has the ability to keep itself clean and relatively poison-free. In this sense, detoxification is the body’s natural process of eliminating or neutralizing toxins. This happens via the liver, kidneys, and lungs, as well as in urine, feces, and through sweat. Yet, your body can become so overloaded that its natural detoxification system can’t keep up, and when this happens the toxins build up and can affect virtually all of the systems of the body, head to toe.
Chemical Cocktail
Unfortunately, people today carry within their bodies a veritable chemical cocktail of modern-day industrial chemicals, pesticides, food additives, heavy metals, and anesthetics, not to mention the residues of pharmaceuticals, legal drugs (like alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine), and illegal drugs (like heroin, cocaine, and marijuana). The sad but undeniable truth is that we have created a living environment that is toxic to our bodies. Look at these facts, taken from respected sources:,
Over 69 million Americans live in areas that exceed smog standards.
Most drinking water contains over 700 chemicals, including excessive amounts of the heavy metal lead.
Some 3,000 chemicals are added to the food supply.
As many as 10,000 chemicals in the form of solvents, emulsifiers, and preservatives are used in food processing and storage.
U.S. chemical companies hold licenses to make 75,000 chemicals for commercial use; the federal government registers an average of 2,000 newly synthesized chemicals each year.
The government has tallied 5,000 chemical ingredients in cosmetics; more than 3,200 chemicals added to food; 1,010 chemicals used in 11,700 consumer products; and 500 chemicals used as active ingredients in pesticides.
In 1998 U.S. industries reported manufacturing 6.5 trillion pounds of 9,000 different chemicals, and in 2000 major U.S. industries reported dumping 7.1 billion pounds of 650 industrial chemicals into our air and water.
Chemical companies are not required to tell the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) how their compounds are used or monitor where their products end up in the environment. Neither does U.S. law require chemical companies to conduct basic health and safety testing of their products either before or after they are commercialized.
Eighty percent of all applications to produce a new chemical are approved by the U.S. EPA with no health and safety data; eighty percent of these are approved in three weeks.
If these numbers startle you, that’s a good thing. No one knows how long some of these chemicals remain inside us once they are ingested or otherwise introduced to the body. And even the toxins that our bodies do know how to break down require extra metabolic energy expenditure to complete the detoxification process. That means less energy for other important things, like keeping the immune system up to speed.
A recent groundbreaking study was conducted by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, in collaboration with the Environmental Working Group and Commonweal. Researchers at two major laboratories found an average of 91 industrial compounds, pollutants, and other chemicals in the blood and urine of only nine volunteers, with a total of 167 chemicals found in the group. Like most of us, the nine people tested do not work with chemicals on the job and do not live near an industrial facility. Of the 167 chemicals found in those nine tested individuals, 76 are known to cause cancer in humans or animals, 94 are toxic to the brain and nervous system, and 79 cause birth defects or abnormal development. What’s more, the danger of exposure to these chemicals in combination has never been studied.
In general, it’s a frightening – and frighteningly true – scenario, and one that we simply cannot afford to let be swept under the carpet or forgotten. Dr. Marshall Mandell, one of the world’s leading allergists and father of bio-ecologic medicine stated:
The current level of chemicals in the food and water supply, and the indoor and outdoor environment, has lowered our threshold of resistance to disease and has altered our body’s metabolism, causing enzyme dysfunction, nutritional deficiencies, and hormonal imbalances.
Is it any surprise then, that although America is considered one of the wealthiest countries in the world, it doesn’t even rank in the United Nations top 20 list of the healthiest?
Citing Parasites
Did you know that at some time in their lives, three out of every five Americans will have had a parasite living inside of them? Easier to contract than some less deadly diseases, parasites are among the most highly numbered living organisms in the world – and they live right inside of you. But what does that mean?
The August 2000 issue of Discover magazine made this incredible statement:
Every living thing has at least one parasite that lives inside or on it, and many, including humans, have far more. Scientists… are only just beginning to discover exactly how powerful these hidden inhabitants can be, but their research is pointing to a remarkable possibility: Parasites may rule the world. The notion that tiny creatures we’ve largely taken for granted are such a dominant force is immensely disturbing. We are collections of cells that work together, kept harmonized by chemical signals. If an organism can control those signals — an organism like a parasite — then it can control us. And therein lies the peculiar and precise horror of parasites.
The problem is simple: The average American diet produces a sick colon, complete with deadly fecal build up that becomes the perfect breeding ground for parasites. Humans can actually play host to over 100 different kinds of parasites, ranging from those that are microscopic to tapeworms that can grow to be several feet in length. And they don’t just sit in your intestines. They can migrate to other parts of the body, including the liver, lungs, muscles, joints, skin, blood, and even to the brain.
While they are not terribly difficult to clean from the body, parasites are often unsuspected and therefore completely unnoticed by their hosts. This allows the parasites to thrive, taking the most valuable nutrients away from the host, who then has to deal not only with poor nutrition and all of its attendant complications, but parasitic waste products as well.
The Body Burden
Scientists refer to the level of a person’s chemical and toxin exposure as an individual’s body burden – the consequence of lifelong exposure to industrial chemicals that are used in thousands of consumer products and which linger as contaminants in air, water, food, and in the soil. There are literally hundreds of chemicals in drinking water, household air, dust, treated tap water and food. And they come from household products like detergent, insulation, fabric treatments, cosmetics, paints, upholstery, computers and TV's. What’s more, they accumulate in fat, blood and organs, or are passed through the body in breast milk, urine, feces, sweat, semen, hair and nails.
Carrying a high body burden translates into all sorts of maladies: Headaches, insomnia, constipation, fatigue, weakness, blurred vision, greater susceptibility to infection, allergic reactions, joint pain, recurrent respiratory problems, back pain, mood changes, stomach pain, digestive problems… the list goes on and on. It’s shocking to realize that many of the problems just mentioned have become so commonplace in our culture that we don’t stop to wonder why we experience them with such regularity. There are entire over-the-counter product lines that depend on us to be and feel ill. Indeed, some companies need us to carry a high body burden!
The Bad News
The simple truth is that toxic chemicals enter our bodies every day in the form of unhealthy and refined foods, additives, pesticides and environmental pollutants. These harmful molecules can be found in great abundance in our air, drinking water and food supply. Chemicals poison our lakes, oceans, soil, and as a consequence, our bodies. In today’s world the body’s natural detoxification system becomes quickly overburdened and is unable to function like it is meant to and like it has in past generations. Since we are unable to process or eliminate these “modern” toxins, they become stored in our glands, tissues and cells, slowly breaking down all body systems on a cellular level. This process takes place gradually and undetectably, until the onset of obesity and disease finally signals their presence.
As if that were not enough, we also need to worry about parasites and the very real threat they pose to our health and wellbeing. “Silent killers” of sorts, many of us are never even aware that we are offering our bodies as homes to these harmful creatures. Even worse, we may be eating the kind of diet that directly encourages their growth and proliferation. And parasites don’t just “go away” – they can stay inside us our entire lives if we don’t clean them out of our bodies. That alone should be reason enough for everyone to complete a detoxification program.
As you can see, without help our bodies are destined to weaken, break down, and fall apart. When this happens, it lowers our quality of life and also affects the lives of our families and loved ones. You can see it all around you today: people succumbing to infections, experiencing illnesses of all kinds, and popping pills that (at best) only cover up the symptoms, and (at worst) weaken or poison the body even further. No doubt about it, it’s a grim picture.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
The Good News
Fortunately, the human body is quite resilient. One of America’s leaders in complementary medicine today, Dr. Andrew Weil is a firm believer that our bodies want to be healthy: “Health is the condition of perfect balance, when all systems run smoothly and energy circulates freely. This is the natural condition, the one in which least effort is expended; therefore, when the body is out of balance, it wants to get back to it.” When we take the steps necessary to alleviate our body burden, we assist it with its natural process of detoxification. We literally give our body the extra nutrients, natural substances and energy it needs in order to set the balance straight and get the process of detoxification back in high gear.
Now – more than ever before – it is imperative that we assist our body’s detoxification processes. Detoxification is a natural, health-preserving therapy, which helps remove harmful toxins from the cells and tissues, restoring their immune-protecting functions. Dr. Elson Haas, Director of the Preventive Medical Center of Marin, in San Rafael, CA, and author of The Detox Diet says, “The process of detoxification…is the missing link to rejuvenating the body and preventing such chronic diseases as cancer, cardiovascular problems, arthritis, diabetes, and obesity. The modern diet, with excess animal proteins, fats, caffeine, alcohol, and chemicals, inhibits the optimum function of our cells and tissues. The cleansing of toxins and waste products will restore function and vitality.”
By Ryan N. Harrison, MA, HHP, NC, EFT-ADV
“Detoxification” has become a nice buzz word lately. It sounds good, rolls off the tongue easily. And, depending on where you live and your lifestyle, if you happen to mention it to your friends or coworkers, it’s likely to make you seem “in the know” about natural healing and health. But do you know what detoxification really is and why is it so important?
The human body is an amazing thing. In its healthiest state it has the ability to keep itself clean and relatively poison-free. In this sense, detoxification is the body’s natural process of eliminating or neutralizing toxins. This happens via the liver, kidneys, and lungs, as well as in urine, feces, and through sweat. Yet, your body can become so overloaded that its natural detoxification system can’t keep up, and when this happens the toxins build up and can affect virtually all of the systems of the body, head to toe.
Chemical Cocktail
Unfortunately, people today carry within their bodies a veritable chemical cocktail of modern-day industrial chemicals, pesticides, food additives, heavy metals, and anesthetics, not to mention the residues of pharmaceuticals, legal drugs (like alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine), and illegal drugs (like heroin, cocaine, and marijuana). The sad but undeniable truth is that we have created a living environment that is toxic to our bodies. Look at these facts, taken from respected sources:,
Over 69 million Americans live in areas that exceed smog standards.
Most drinking water contains over 700 chemicals, including excessive amounts of the heavy metal lead.
Some 3,000 chemicals are added to the food supply.
As many as 10,000 chemicals in the form of solvents, emulsifiers, and preservatives are used in food processing and storage.
U.S. chemical companies hold licenses to make 75,000 chemicals for commercial use; the federal government registers an average of 2,000 newly synthesized chemicals each year.
The government has tallied 5,000 chemical ingredients in cosmetics; more than 3,200 chemicals added to food; 1,010 chemicals used in 11,700 consumer products; and 500 chemicals used as active ingredients in pesticides.
In 1998 U.S. industries reported manufacturing 6.5 trillion pounds of 9,000 different chemicals, and in 2000 major U.S. industries reported dumping 7.1 billion pounds of 650 industrial chemicals into our air and water.
Chemical companies are not required to tell the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) how their compounds are used or monitor where their products end up in the environment. Neither does U.S. law require chemical companies to conduct basic health and safety testing of their products either before or after they are commercialized.
Eighty percent of all applications to produce a new chemical are approved by the U.S. EPA with no health and safety data; eighty percent of these are approved in three weeks.
If these numbers startle you, that’s a good thing. No one knows how long some of these chemicals remain inside us once they are ingested or otherwise introduced to the body. And even the toxins that our bodies do know how to break down require extra metabolic energy expenditure to complete the detoxification process. That means less energy for other important things, like keeping the immune system up to speed.
A recent groundbreaking study was conducted by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, in collaboration with the Environmental Working Group and Commonweal. Researchers at two major laboratories found an average of 91 industrial compounds, pollutants, and other chemicals in the blood and urine of only nine volunteers, with a total of 167 chemicals found in the group. Like most of us, the nine people tested do not work with chemicals on the job and do not live near an industrial facility. Of the 167 chemicals found in those nine tested individuals, 76 are known to cause cancer in humans or animals, 94 are toxic to the brain and nervous system, and 79 cause birth defects or abnormal development. What’s more, the danger of exposure to these chemicals in combination has never been studied.
In general, it’s a frightening – and frighteningly true – scenario, and one that we simply cannot afford to let be swept under the carpet or forgotten. Dr. Marshall Mandell, one of the world’s leading allergists and father of bio-ecologic medicine stated:
The current level of chemicals in the food and water supply, and the indoor and outdoor environment, has lowered our threshold of resistance to disease and has altered our body’s metabolism, causing enzyme dysfunction, nutritional deficiencies, and hormonal imbalances.
Is it any surprise then, that although America is considered one of the wealthiest countries in the world, it doesn’t even rank in the United Nations top 20 list of the healthiest?
Citing Parasites
Did you know that at some time in their lives, three out of every five Americans will have had a parasite living inside of them? Easier to contract than some less deadly diseases, parasites are among the most highly numbered living organisms in the world – and they live right inside of you. But what does that mean?
The August 2000 issue of Discover magazine made this incredible statement:
Every living thing has at least one parasite that lives inside or on it, and many, including humans, have far more. Scientists… are only just beginning to discover exactly how powerful these hidden inhabitants can be, but their research is pointing to a remarkable possibility: Parasites may rule the world. The notion that tiny creatures we’ve largely taken for granted are such a dominant force is immensely disturbing. We are collections of cells that work together, kept harmonized by chemical signals. If an organism can control those signals — an organism like a parasite — then it can control us. And therein lies the peculiar and precise horror of parasites.
The problem is simple: The average American diet produces a sick colon, complete with deadly fecal build up that becomes the perfect breeding ground for parasites. Humans can actually play host to over 100 different kinds of parasites, ranging from those that are microscopic to tapeworms that can grow to be several feet in length. And they don’t just sit in your intestines. They can migrate to other parts of the body, including the liver, lungs, muscles, joints, skin, blood, and even to the brain.
While they are not terribly difficult to clean from the body, parasites are often unsuspected and therefore completely unnoticed by their hosts. This allows the parasites to thrive, taking the most valuable nutrients away from the host, who then has to deal not only with poor nutrition and all of its attendant complications, but parasitic waste products as well.
The Body Burden
Scientists refer to the level of a person’s chemical and toxin exposure as an individual’s body burden – the consequence of lifelong exposure to industrial chemicals that are used in thousands of consumer products and which linger as contaminants in air, water, food, and in the soil. There are literally hundreds of chemicals in drinking water, household air, dust, treated tap water and food. And they come from household products like detergent, insulation, fabric treatments, cosmetics, paints, upholstery, computers and TV's. What’s more, they accumulate in fat, blood and organs, or are passed through the body in breast milk, urine, feces, sweat, semen, hair and nails.
Carrying a high body burden translates into all sorts of maladies: Headaches, insomnia, constipation, fatigue, weakness, blurred vision, greater susceptibility to infection, allergic reactions, joint pain, recurrent respiratory problems, back pain, mood changes, stomach pain, digestive problems… the list goes on and on. It’s shocking to realize that many of the problems just mentioned have become so commonplace in our culture that we don’t stop to wonder why we experience them with such regularity. There are entire over-the-counter product lines that depend on us to be and feel ill. Indeed, some companies need us to carry a high body burden!
The Bad News
The simple truth is that toxic chemicals enter our bodies every day in the form of unhealthy and refined foods, additives, pesticides and environmental pollutants. These harmful molecules can be found in great abundance in our air, drinking water and food supply. Chemicals poison our lakes, oceans, soil, and as a consequence, our bodies. In today’s world the body’s natural detoxification system becomes quickly overburdened and is unable to function like it is meant to and like it has in past generations. Since we are unable to process or eliminate these “modern” toxins, they become stored in our glands, tissues and cells, slowly breaking down all body systems on a cellular level. This process takes place gradually and undetectably, until the onset of obesity and disease finally signals their presence.
As if that were not enough, we also need to worry about parasites and the very real threat they pose to our health and wellbeing. “Silent killers” of sorts, many of us are never even aware that we are offering our bodies as homes to these harmful creatures. Even worse, we may be eating the kind of diet that directly encourages their growth and proliferation. And parasites don’t just “go away” – they can stay inside us our entire lives if we don’t clean them out of our bodies. That alone should be reason enough for everyone to complete a detoxification program.
As you can see, without help our bodies are destined to weaken, break down, and fall apart. When this happens, it lowers our quality of life and also affects the lives of our families and loved ones. You can see it all around you today: people succumbing to infections, experiencing illnesses of all kinds, and popping pills that (at best) only cover up the symptoms, and (at worst) weaken or poison the body even further. No doubt about it, it’s a grim picture.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
The Good News
Fortunately, the human body is quite resilient. One of America’s leaders in complementary medicine today, Dr. Andrew Weil is a firm believer that our bodies want to be healthy: “Health is the condition of perfect balance, when all systems run smoothly and energy circulates freely. This is the natural condition, the one in which least effort is expended; therefore, when the body is out of balance, it wants to get back to it.” When we take the steps necessary to alleviate our body burden, we assist it with its natural process of detoxification. We literally give our body the extra nutrients, natural substances and energy it needs in order to set the balance straight and get the process of detoxification back in high gear.
Now – more than ever before – it is imperative that we assist our body’s detoxification processes. Detoxification is a natural, health-preserving therapy, which helps remove harmful toxins from the cells and tissues, restoring their immune-protecting functions. Dr. Elson Haas, Director of the Preventive Medical Center of Marin, in San Rafael, CA, and author of The Detox Diet says, “The process of detoxification…is the missing link to rejuvenating the body and preventing such chronic diseases as cancer, cardiovascular problems, arthritis, diabetes, and obesity. The modern diet, with excess animal proteins, fats, caffeine, alcohol, and chemicals, inhibits the optimum function of our cells and tissues. The cleansing of toxins and waste products will restore function and vitality.”
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